Isaiah the prophet sees God’s ultimate dream for health care when the new creation is completed: “No more shall there be…an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime (Isaiah 65:20).”  Over the past year, our nation has been polarized over the issue of health care reform.  One side believes that every American deserves to have health coverage while the other side believes that such is a privilege.  It’s true that I may be over-simplifying, but that seems to be the broad spectrum.  Now, I would be lying if I thought that the new health care plan that is to be implemented over the next several years is immaculate (as it will be in God’s renewed world); but when you put a name and a face to reform, suddenly political practice becomes rooted in relationships rather than theory.

Over the past few weeks a very close friend has been suffering with several ailments, of which gallbladder stones are the primary.  She has two part-time jobs and therefore does not have insurance.  She went to the ER initially for the pain she was having but was told by doctors that she would have to wait for more evidence of infection before they could legally operate on her without health coverage.  So, she was told to wait until clear signs of infection kicked in (yellowing of the eyes and skin, high fever, etc.), [Read more...]